Pretty healthy flapjacks

Hello. How’s 2015 treating you so far? My January has been ok, though I’m definitely looking forward to some lighter mornings. This time of year, with the sparkly distraction of Christmas a distant memory, is when I really start to miss the sunshine. I’ve also been ill three times in the last two months. Not good!

This got me thinking that I need to start taking care of myself a bit better. Overall I’m fairly healthy, but give me the choice of cooking a meal or eating some toast and I will always pick the option that is easier and gives me the time to do something more fun (I’m trying to enjoy cooking more, I really am). This coupled with a rather boozy festive period and being ill left me feeling a little less than awesome.

So I’ve decided to do something about it from the inside out. Nothing drastic, just making a few healthier choices about what I eat.

As well as getting organised with planning and cooking my evening meals in advance, I thought I needed to come up with a good snack. I like to snack when I’m working, so I decided to make some flapjacks rather than reaching for the biscuit tin.

Now, my usual flapjack recipe is pretty lethal (hello butter, hello sugar!) but I wanted to make them as healthy as possible.

You can find the recipe below (makes 12):

150g oats

50g desiccated coconut

50g dried cranberries

50g chopped dried dates

4 tbsp runny honey

Banana* (mashed)

How to make them:

Pre-heat oven to 170°c fan/190°c/375°f/Gas mark 5

Lightly oil a shallow baking tray

In a bowl mix the oats and coconut together

In a pan over a low heat, melt the honey a little

Stir in the mashed bananas then the dried fruit

Add all of this wet mix to the dry mix until it’s all combined (*I used one and a half bananas – I’d suggest having two on hand just in case your mix is too dry)

Turn out into the tray and spread out so it’s flat

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown

Leave to cool before cutting into squares.

I love flapjacks as they’re so simple and you can really chuck anything you like in. This was a bit of an experiment really, but I think they turned out pretty lovely. The combination of coconuts and dates is a winner, and the cranberries add a sharp edge to the natural sweetness of the other ingredients.

I’ve called these ‘pretty healthy’ because obviously there’s a lot of sugar (albeit natural) in there and dried fruit isn’t the best. But there is no fat, plus banana and oats are prebiotic making them nice on your tummy.